


Five Francs

by bobbiewickham



Series: X-ameron [14]
Category: Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:33:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23537677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobbiewickham/pseuds/bobbiewickham
Summary: Courfeyrac lends, Marius borrows, and they both pine.
Relationships: Courfeyrac/Marius Pontmercy
Series: X-ameron [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1669762
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Five Francs

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt from wild-oats-and-cornflowers on Tumblr for Courfeyrac/Marius, mutual pining and mutual obliviousness to each other's pining.

It was a shame and a waste that Marius was so charming. He even looked charming when he slept. Unlike certain others of Courfeyrac’s acquaintance--say, Jean Prouvaire--Courfeyrac himself didn’t find most people charming when they slept. They looked silly. Their mouths opened and they drooled. But Marius looked like earnestness personified, as endearingly confused and well-intentioned in sleep as when awake. 

Endearingly, and bewitchingly. His cheeks were ruddy, as if his own dream-thoughts made him blush; his lips were curved in a most inviting shape. With another friend, Courfeyrac might have said something. But this wasn’t another friend. This was Marius Pontmercy. There were friends, and then there was his Pontmercy friend, who required a specific kind of handling. 

No, Courfeyrac wouldn’t say anything. It would be like getting too close to a wild cat: accomplishing nothing, save to scare the cat away. He would say nothing; he would preserve a discreet silence; and when Marius asked him for five francs every week, with a serious face and no explanation, Courfeyrac would give him the money, and keep his questions to himself. 

***

It was a shame and a disgrace that Marius had to borrow money from Courfeyrac to send Thénardier in prison. He could only pay his father’s great debt by incurring a lesser debt. The thought made him cringe. 

But perhaps not as much as it should have. It was easy, worryingly so, to be indebted to Courfeyrac. Marius knew it should rob him of his sleep and make his food tasteless. And yet, it didn’t feel that way. It felt distressingly comfortable and natural. Deep in the weakness of his heart, he felt that of course he could come to Courfeyrac and live with him and pay no share of the expenses. And of course he could take five francs off Courfeyrac every week, with no questions and no term of repayment. 

It was a shame, though Courfeyrac would never accept it as such. He would say there were no debts between friends. Perhaps it was to avoid hearing such that Marius didn’t press the point. He didn’t think he could look into Courfeyrac’s eyes, so warm and brown and twinkling, and hear such words, and maintain his own composure. No, he would blush, and stammer, and then--well, it would be awkward, very awkward. There was something about Courfeyrac that inspired blushes. Even more than everything else did, for Marius Pontmercy. 

Better not to press any point. Better, instead, to avert his eyes, as he asked, “May I borrow five francs?”

And better still to scurry away with haste, when Courfeyrac said, his voice alive with generosity and affection, “But of course.”


End file.
